


We Will Find A Way

by whatstheproblembaby



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Fluff, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 15:05:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15608922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatstheproblembaby/pseuds/whatstheproblembaby
Summary: Katherine was almost ashamed of how long it took her to realize what she was feeling.





	We Will Find A Way

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhhh my first Newsies fic! I'm absolutely ass over teakettle for the OT3, and there just isn't enough content, so here I am, hoping to do my part. :)
> 
> Reviews are always appreciated.

Katherine was almost ashamed of how long it took her to realize what she was feeling. Wasn’t she a journalist? Shouldn’t she be able to cut right to the heart of any matter in only a few moments?

Any competent journalist would have seen her staring at Davey whenever she wasn’t staring at Jack and started asking some questions. Any competent journalist would have been raising his eyebrows at her hastily aborted attempt to fling herself into Davey’s arms the other day when he told her and the other newsies that he was finally going back to school. She had tried to play off her sudden start as a violent cough, but she could feel the weight of the rest of the boys’ suspicious looks.

Well, almost all of the other boys’ looks. The instant _he_ heard the news, Jack had pulled Davey into a headlock, pretending to be offended that Davey hadn’t told him first: “After all, you’re my vice president, Dave! What the hell ‘m I supposed ta do without ya?”

“I’m the brains of the operation, remember? I’ve gotta make sure I’m smart enough to keep you out of trouble the next time you square off with Joe,” Davey said through a laugh. “Or are you hoping that courting his daughter will keep you in his good books?”

Jack snorted. “You’re gonna need to go t’ law school ta convince Joe that I’m good enough for Katherine.”

“If Davey goes to law school, my father will just have me marry _him_ instead,” Katherine said, recovering herself enough to tease her beau. Her eyes met Davey’s as she spoke, and they shared a grin.

“Guess I’ll just have to propose first,” Jack said, earning Katherine’s full attention. She couldn’t return the smile he shot at her after that statement - she was too busy trying to not melt into the floor at the heat in his gaze.

Some seeds were planted in Katherine’s mind that day, but the thought didn’t fully bloom for her until a couple of weeks later, when she saw Jack and Davey walking up the street to meet her for their planned day trip to Coney Island. They weren’t doing anything particularly eyecatching - just talking softly and smiling as they made their way toward her - but Katherine was suddenly struck with the desire to run up and slide in between them, to take not just Jack’s arm for an escort, but both of theirs.

To kiss both of them “hello” on the cheek as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

Katherine had to brace herself on the brick building behind her for a moment, straightening just before Jack and Davey saw that she was there.

She gave Davey a brief hug before accepting Jack’s arm, and the three of them made their way toward the streetcar. Davey and Jack were trying to tell her about the conversation they were having before they met up with her, but she wasn’t hearing a word.

She was too busy coming to terms with the fact that she was in love with both of them.

_______________

If she were in love with any other people, she wouldn’t have said anything. Anybody from her former social circle would have thought she was depraved and possibly would have pushed to have her committed. Any of the other newsies wouldn’t have understood, though she didn’t think they would see her as completely deviant.

But Jack and Davey had a unique bond.

She knew they had a great deal of mutual respect for one another, especially after their strike was successful. She had seen how they constantly sought each other out after one of them had had a rough day, and how they encouraged each other to be their best selves.

More tellingly, she had seen how they were more tactile with each other than they were with any of the other newsies, even Crutchie and Les, their brothers in spirit and blood, respectively. She couldn’t be sure that meant anything - what did she know of how men showed love? - but she couldn’t help but think it was a sign that they might have similar feelings to her.

Her biggest concern was that she might end up being the odd one out. She knew Jack had been flirting with her from the moment they had met, but what if that had been a cover for his true feelings about Davey? Or what if Davey didn’t care for her _in that way_ at all and tried to force Jack to pick between them?

She thought she could let Jack go, if what he truly wanted was Davey, but she wasn’t sure what would remain of her in the aftermath.

“You’ll figure that out if that’s what today comes to, Katherine,” she told herself, clenching both of her hands into fists as she paced the tiny expanse of her office at the _Sun_. (By all rights, she should have been too junior to have her own space, but the editors couldn’t comprehend the idea of a woman being out on the newsroom floor all day with the other men. Since it afforded her a little privacy completely outside of her father’s house, she didn’t complain.) “Don’t worry about things that haven’t even happened yet.”

“Hey, Kath!” Jack said, appearing in the doorway. He strode into her office as if he owned it, Davey following in his wake with a small smile on his face.

“Katherine.”  
“You’re here!”

“Uh...yeah. You asked us to be,” Jack said, raising an eyebrow. “Or were you expecting two other handsome newsies to give an interview about their lives after the strike?”

“You still think of me as a newsie?” Davey asked.

“Once a newsie, always a newsie,” Jack said. “Plus, it would ruin the flow if I said ‘one handsome newsie and one okay-looking schoolboy.’”

“Boys!” Katherine said sharply, halting Jack and Davey’s inevitable scuffle before it could start. “That’s...um...that’s not actually why I asked both of you here today, although we will do that interview eventually.”

She moved to close the door before continuing.

“I have something I need to tell you both, and I don’t really know how to say it. I just wanted somewhere relatively private to do so.”

“Is everything alright, Kath?” Davey asked, looking worried.

“Yeah, do I gotta teach somebody a lesson?” Jack looked ready for a fight.

“No! It’s not bad, or at least, I don’t think it’s anything bad. But it’s...different.” Katherine looked down at her hands before taking a deep breath. “I’m in love with Jack.”

“Obviously.”

“But I’m also in love with Davey.”

When neither boy responded after a few seconds, Katherine looked up to see both of them gaping like fishes. Jack had seated himself on her desk, so he was mostly upright, but Davey had ended up slumped against the wall as if he were about to pass out.

“So...what do you wanna do ‘bout it?” Jack finally asked.

“Most people would say I have to choose,” Katherine said. “That I have to throw one of you over for the other, and lose an important relationship either way. But I don’t want to do that. I - I want both of you, if you’ll have me. And I think you both kind of want each other, too.”

Jack’s eyes looked like they were about to fall completely out of his skull.

After another intolerable moment, Katherine begged, “Say something!”

“You’re right,” Davey rasped, slowly pushing himself upright.

“About?” Katherine asked.

“I do want Jack,” Davey said. “It took me awhile to admit that to myself, but I’ve been aware for some time now that I want Jack the way I should want a woman. What was harder for me to figure out was that I also wanted you.”

Katherine was afraid she was going to swoon.

“I’ve always thought you were beautiful, of course, and you’re one of the most brave and intelligent people I know,” Davey continued. “But I kept trying to think of you as completely off-limits, since you were involved with my best friend, and I succeeded for a little while. The ride home from Coney Island changed everything, though. I remember being in between you and Jack on the streetcar, having you pretend to bicker about something while I served as a moderator, and I couldn’t recall ever being so happy. Then you fell asleep on my shoulder and Jack’s hand fell into mine as he dozed against the window, and I just knew. I knew it would only be right if I had both of you in my life.”

“Davey,” Katherine whispered.

“You’re right. It’s different. But I’m willing to try it if you are,” Davey said. He walked across the room to take Katherine’s hand in his. “What do you say, Jackie?”

Jack stared at them both blankly before swallowing hard. “I - I never - I didn’t know-”

He lapsed into silence again. Katherine thought she might throw up.

“I didn’ know this was possible,” Jack finally said. “I’d always kin’a known that I liked men the same way I liked women, but I thought maybe I’d grow outta it, or if I ever got married, that it wouldn’ matter. I didn’t know that there was people like you two - people who I’d love, and who would love me, and who wouldn’ care that I liked both. I really never knew that people might think it was okay to love two people at once.”

“I don’t know if anyone else thinks this way,” Katherine admitted. “I have to believe there are other people in the world who are like us, who love more than one person at a time, but I doubt anyone would admit it to me even if they did. But we’re living in the new century! There are women newspaper reporters, and newsies who took on titans of publishing and won! If all of that can happen - why can’t more than two people be in love?”

“Well, when ya put it like that,” Jack said with a laugh.

“So...do we want to give us a try?” Davey asked, smiling down at Katherine, then over at Jack.

“For sure,” Jack said, walking over to the other two and taking their free hands in his.

“For sure,” Katherine echoed, squeezing tight.

She could only hope she’d never have to let go.


End file.
